NEW YORK, (Reuters Life!) – British actor Dev Patel  had a dream start to his film career digging into his Indian  heritage to play the lead role in British director Danny  Boyle’s Oscar-winning “Slumdog Millionaire.”

His second film, M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Last Airbender,”  is being panned by the critics, but Patel’s performance as a  vengeful fire-spewing prince has earned some of the film’s only praise.

Patel, still only 20 years-old, talked to Reuters about the  pressure on the set of “Airbender” following “Slumdog”, how he  is now mobbed in India and how he and co-star Freida Pinto parlayed their working relationship into a more intimate one.

Q: Why did you accept this as your second major film? The  “Slumdog” role created this wholesome image for you, how much  will playing more of an evil prince in “Airbender” shake up  that good boy persona?

A: “I wanted to do something that was as different as  possible as to “Slumdog” and this is a whole 180 (degrees)…I  wanted to avoid being typecast.

“I came into this industry as an actor and I want to leave  being an actor. So I want to be as versatile as possible. With  “Slumdog” it was a such a great experience but there was so  much exposure and we had to do so much press to build this film  up with no money. We sort of became overexposed and were in all  of those silly gossip magazines. I don’t want to become one of  those celebrities, I just want to be a good actor.”

Q: Did you feel more pressure on set this time around?

A: “I was just as nervous as I was in “Slumdog,” maybe if  not more, because you know the whole added pressure of coming  off a film like that and everyone expecting another Academy  Award-winning film, which is obviously not going to be the case  with this, it is a whole different sort of market.”

Q: From whom did you learn more, Danny Boyle or  (“Airbender” director) M. Night Shyamalan?

A: “That is a tricky one. No offence to Night but for me  personally no one will ever hold a torch to Danny, it doesn’t  matter who it is. He basically had a film and he hedged his  bets on an absolute nobody to play the lead in his film. He  took such a large risk on me, and I was a complete unknown to  be honest. For him to have faith in me…and for the film to be  successful, I wanted to impress him and work so hard. And that  is how all these awards got showered upon us…I thank him  really for being a patient and great mentor.

Q: How have you handled the exposure since then, especially  since you publicly started dating “Slumdog” star Freida Pinto?

A: “Publicly? I don’t know what you mean about publicly! We  try and be as hidden as possible really. (laughs) But even  going to the gym and things, I don’t know how they find you,  but they just do, it’s unbelievable. We tried to stay under  wraps about it as much as possible, especially during the  “Slumdog” press. We didn’t want that to be overshadowing the  film in any way so we kept it under wraps.”

Q: Is it difficult now that you are filming separately?

A: “Yes she is doing a lot of filming right now, it is  quite inspiring actually. It is tricky, but where there is a  will there is a way I guess.”

Q: You went back to India at Christmas. What is your  reception like there now?

A: “I love the place. Since shooting “Slumdog” I sort of  fell in love with Mumbai and things. I went there and it was  great, I made lots of friends on the film set of “Slumdog,” so  it was lovely to see them again.